Program Support Assistant

Program Support Assistant

Employee will serve as a Program Support Assistant within the Research and Development Service (R&D) located at the G. V. (Sonny) Montgomery Veterans Medical Center in Jackson, MS.

The primary purpose of this position is responsible for the day-to-day administrative activities for health services research. Duties will include, but may not be limited to the following :

• Manages various administrative and technical processes within the office and ensures that procedures are understood and followed by the research community.
• Coordinates office operations and processing, ensuring accurate preparation of documents, action items, correspondence, personnel issues, and travel issues using office automation applications.
• Arranges leadership calendar, making appointments, including for engagements and conferences.
• Coordinates travel, makes reservations for travel and accommodations for management and staff members.
• Coordinates with Human Resources personnel to ensure proper processing and tracking of personnel actions, and accurate completion of documents.
• Serves as the automated data processing coordinator to assist with computer needs and access.
• Performs educational needs assessment to determine training required, designs and plan programs to meet identified needs; ensures training records are documentation and maintains.
• Reviews research activities involving biological, chemical, physical, and radiation hazards for compliance with applicable regulations, policies, and guidelines. Coordinates and reports all safety-related activities in research laboratories, i.e., safety inspections, accident reporting, etc.
• Advises and educates investigators and study staff on operational procedures for obtaining and maintaining approval to conduct research.
• Manages and enters data into specialized research software to track research project status and prepare reports. Prepare agendas for meetings
• Serves as a purchase card holder for the acquisition of supplies, equipment, and services. Maintains system of accountability of research funds and reconciles / balances books to research fund control points.
• Coordinates the maintenance and repair of all equipment. Initiates requisitions for maintenance contracts, and repair orders.
• Performs other duties as necessary.

Work Schedule : Monday-Friday, 8 : 00am - 4 : 30pm Recruitment & Relocation Incentives : Not authorized Critical Skills Incentive (CSI) : Not Approved

Conditions of employment :

As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1-year probationary period during which we will evaluate your fitness and whether your continued employment advances the public interest. In determining if your employment advances the public interest, we may consider : your performance and conduct; the needs and interests of the agency; whether your continued employment would advance organizational goals of the agency or the Government; and whether your continued employment would advance the efficiency of the Federal service. Upon completion of your probationary, your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.

Specialized Experience : Requires one full year of specialized experience that equipped the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSA's) to perform successfully the duties of the position, and that is typically in or related to the position to be filled. To be creditable, specialized experience must have been equivalent to at least the next lower grade level (GS-6) in the Federal service. Specialized experience is working in a health services research environment coordinating the day-to-day administrative activities of the office, and includes scheduling appointments for investigators meetings / conferences, preparing agendas and meeting minutes; utilizing automation software and databases, entering research data, preparing reports and a variety of correspondence and maintaining documentation; making travel arrangements / accommodations; and maintaining system of accountability of research funds, reconciling / balancing books to research fund control points. (Resumes must clearly support the required experience to be creditable. See the announcement duties section for details.) Your experience must be fully documented on your resume and must include job title, duties, month and year start / end dates AND hours worked per week. A full year of work is considered to be 35-40 hours of work per week. Part-time experience will be credited on the basis of time actually spent in appropriate activities. Applicants wishing to receive credit for such experience must indicate clearly the nature of their duties and responsibilities in each position and the number of hours a week spent in such employment.

Physical Requirements : The work is primarily sedentary, although some slight physical effort may be required.

Reasonable Accommodation (RA) Requests : If you believe you have a disability (i.e., physical or mental), covered by the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended that would interfere with completing the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments, you will be granted the opportunity to request a RA in your online application. Requests for RA for the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments and appropriate supporting documentation for RA must be received prior to starting the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments. Decisions on requests for RA are made on a case-by-case basis.

Receiving Service Credit for Earning Annual (Vacation) Leave : Federal Employees earn annual leave at a rate (4, 6 or 8 hours per pay period) which is based on the number of years they have served as a Federal employee. Selected applicants may qualify for credit toward annual leave accrual, based on prior work experience or military service experience. This credited service can be used in determining the rate at which they earn annual leave. Such credit must be requested and approved prior to the appointment date and is not guaranteed.

The Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP) and Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) provide eligible displaced Federal competitive service employees with selection priority over other candidates for competitive service vacancies. To be qualified you must submit appropriate documentation and be found well-qualified (have a final rating of 80 or more before any Veterans preference points) for this vacancy. Information about ICTAP and CTAP eligibility is on OPM's Career Transition Resources website at http : / / www.opm.gov / policy-data-oversight / workforce-restructuring / employee-guide-to-career-transition / .

Candidates should be committed to improving the efficiency of the Federal government, passionate about the ideals of our American republic, and committed to upholding the rule of law and the United States Constitution.

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

Your qualifications will be evaluated based on your application materials (e.g., resume, supporting documents), your responses on the application questionnaire, and your responses to all assessments required for this position. You will be assessed on the following competencies (knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics) : Accountability, Attention to Detail, Customer Service, Decision Making, Flexibility, Integrity / Honesty, Interpersonal Skills, Learning, Reading Comprehension, Reasoning, Self-Management, Stress Tolerance, Teamwork.